Arrow Drabbles
by margotb
Summary: Just a place to post some Arrow drabbles.
1. Four to Tango

AbsentlyAbbie posted a prompt on tumblr and the plot bunnies went wild: Team Arrow needs to infiltrate a dance contest (because reasons.) The only slot still open is for a tango. Felicity knows how to tango. Oliver and Diggle don't. Tommy Merlyn does.

All mistakes are my own, I own nothing.

* * *

"I can do this, _we,_ can do this. We practiced," Felicity reminded herself, smoothing out the nonexistant wrinkles in her dress.

"And practiced and practiced," Tommy's interrupted her, taking a hand in his while the other rested on her back, gently guiding her towards the curtain.

"You two, you're up next!" the stage manager informed them, breezing by them to yell at someone doing something incompetently.

"Could be worse," Tommy stated, a brief look around out of the curtain to find what he was looking for.

"How's that exactly?" She asked, watching the lights dim. It was their cue, Tommy moved to the opposite side of the stage before he could finish, offering her a charming grin and a wink. Rolling her eyes she shook out her hair once more before taking a deep breath. Show time.

The lights went up, the music started and her feet moved automatically. The dark red skirt flared around her knees as she called to him, hands in constant movement over her body before reaching out to him. He approached, their eyes never leaving each others as the moved opposite one another, her hand on his chest the only contact before he threw off his jacket. They met in a lunge, knees overlapping in profile as they linked arms, his hand going to her back. She grabbed his arm and they stood, sliding her hand up as they rose, the only sound she heard was the blood rushing in her ears.

Twirling her out before they met once more her face tucked beneath his chin, her leg raised to his hip as his hand slowly slid down the raised leg. She could feel Oliver and Diggle's eyes on them but she blocked it out, raising her eyes to meet his before she wrapped her leg around his.

"You were saying?" She asked softly as he moved them both across the floor, her leg matching his extended one as he dipped her. Tommy slowly raising her up, each one with a hand on the other's back, Felicity's right hand clasped in his as he turned them.

"Look to your left," he finally replied, hands still entwined as their legs moved around each other. Spinning her out so her back was to his chest as they moved across the stage, she scanned the area.

"Your other left," he whispered, leaning into closely, moving his hand to her waist as she turned to face him again. That's when she saw it.

Or him, rather. Oliver in the back of the crowd, a grey workmen's jumpsuit on, hat trying to cover his features. What sold it was the mop in his hand, frozen in mid air as he watched them. Felicity had to bite the inside of her cheek to keep from laughing. Tommy drew her in once more, her arms wrapping around to fist into his the back of his shirt. With his arms wrapped tightly around her waist she was able to tuck her head below his chin, allowing her a moment to calm herself.

"Not fair," she whispered, parting from him and meeting his eyes. His expression remained in the dance, but there was a quick flash of amusement in his eyes that was nearly her undoing.

"Keep it together you two," Diggle's voice broke through on the coms.

With his back to her Felicity wrapped her arms around him, sliding her leg up one of his. He made to grab it, but she was too fast, running backwards as he spun and advanced on her. On her knees she stopped him, slowly making her way up her hand running up his chest before he helped her to fully stand. There was a half twist then she was bent, his arm on her back with her head tuck beneath his arm. Pulling her up he grabbed her waist, her back to his front and his arm branded just beneath her bust as they moved.

That's when they heard a snap. A quick spin out showed the mop broken in Oliver's hands, Diggle the bartender rushing to give him a tounge lashing to avoid further mishaps.

A quick twirl and they faced each other again, the amusement clear in Tommy's face. Felicity glared at him in an attempt to tell him not to say a word, pulling her flush against him Tommy ran his hands along her body slowly, enjoying listening to Diggle's vain attempt to distract Oliver.

"You could have been part of the cleaning crew," he smirked, spinning her out once more, her half lunge allowing him to pull her in slowly.

"Then were would we be?" Tommy whispered in her ear, before spinning her out again. Bringing her back in she knelt on his leg before a quick kick out of her leg into the air, landing slightly kneeling before him. Rising slowly he followed her, there eyes never leaving each others.

"I think you'd be dipping Diggle," she smirked before she was dipped, the music stopping and the short bark of laughter that left Tommy's throat was covered by applause.


	2. Waking Up

I'm rather overwhelmed by the responses I've gotten, so here's a little something that's been floating around in my brain for a while now. Tommy lives AU! In which he wakes up to some surprises, none of which were the ones he expected.

This is so unbeted it's crazy. This may become a separate fic, because I have ideas but we'll see.

* * *

The first time Tommy woke up it was because of the nightmares. Well, that and how real the pain felt shooting through his lower chest. There was a flurry of people, vaguely familiar voices called to him in his delirium but it faded quickly then he felt at ease again.

He was somewhat aware of the people there, coming and going. Thea's hands held on to his left hand tightly; as if she left go she'd lose him. He wanted to squeeze her hands. To open his eyes and look at her, make some self deprecating comment about himself to get her to smile, but heaviness never left him. 

Oliver hovered around for sometime, saying little but Tommy knew he was there. Laurel came to sit with him everyday, rarely leaving his side for the first week and a half. Oddly enough it wasn't any of them who surrounded him when he woke up. Blinking rapidly he looked around slowly, sunlight low in the windows, but bright enough to make out a silhouette in the corner. After a moment Felicity came into focus, one foot on the chair with her chin perched on her knee as she held her book. 

"Any goo-" his voice came out low and raspy, flem catching in his throat as he started to cough. Yelping is surprise she dropped her book and looked up at him moving to get him some water. She looked around slightly panicked before digging out a straw from her purse and bringing it over to him.

After finishing the glass of water, she refilled it and set it on the side table before going to grab a nurse. Tommy laid back, watching as a she reentered behind some nurses and doctors.

"We need to check-" one of the nurses started but Felicity stopped, barely in the door.

"Just let me know when I can come back in," she said, pointing in the direction of the door with one hand while the other went to her pocket to retrieve her phone.

"Don't," Tommy started, getting her attention before she left. His voice still raspy from the oxygen tube and lack of use, he cleared his throat.

"Don't tell him," he finally got out. Felicity didn't need further explanation, just nodded after a moment.

"Or Laurel," he added, Felicity's foot already out of the door. She nodded again in recognition of the request but didn't look at him.

After fifteen minutes they allowed Felicity back in the room, Tommy now sitting up in bed. The nurse finished taking blood, before reattaching the IV fluids and turning to Felicity..

"Everything looked fine, but we're running a few more tests, just in case," she said to an edgy looking Felicity. She nodded and smiled before the nurse left, Felicity's eyes flitting about to anything except Tommy.

"You've got a horrible poker face you know," he said, her eyes finally meeting his, eyebrows up in what he guessed was surprise.

"I didn't te-"

"Look, I'm assuming he's footing the bill for the private room since I'm assuming I'm broke. It makes sense, you work with him so-"

"I didn't tell him. Couldn't if I wanted too, but I wouldn't since you asked me not to. He's not here," she cut in. Tommy looked at her in confusion as she stood and started pacing.

"Well, obviously he's not _here_. It'd be rather difficult to hide 200 or so pounds of pure muscle and not see him here. He's stealthy, but I don't think he's the type to hide behind the curtains and risk having his shoes seen," she rambled on, gesturing to the curtains by the window as she paced in front of the chair she had vacated.

She stopped pacing, turning to look at Tommy's confused if not slightly amused expression. With a deep breath she finally spoke the words she'd been avoiding.

"He's gone, has been for a little over a week now." Her voice was softer and sounded to Tommy, a little defeated.

"How long have I been sleeping?"

"A little over three weeks now,"

Three weeks? Tommy's hand moved to his face, then hair in shock. It seemed he was growing a short beard, his hair longer and more uneven than it had been in-well, ever.

"So this," he said pointing to his face. "Is just a welcome back gift, along with the 21 gun salute outside my door?" He asked her, having noted the officers when she left but unable to get an answer from the medical staff.

Felicity gave him a weak smile, looking from him to the guarded doorway and back. She was silent for a while, a debate seeming to be going on inside her mind if the lost look in her eyes was anything to go by.

"Well, first off, those are cops. You're thinking army. Hopefully, they won't be needed. You were moved because of an attack. It seemed that with the chaous someone slipped in and attempted to-" her hands started moving as she spoke, her phone balanced on her knee as she went on without taking a breath.

"Couldn't get to Daddy dearest, so they settled for second best?" Tommy filled in, despite being rough from disuse Felicity heard the anger, pain and spite in his voice perfectly.

"I'm assuming they saw it that way," she said, moving the chair closer to his bed a little. Her phone vibrated, looking down she saw the message from Diggle. He was five minutes out.

"So, because of that, there's a plan," she started slowly. Having just completely woken up she didn't wish to overwhelm him but felt he needed to know. He didn't know her well, didn't trust her like Diggle or Oliver so while it was needed, it didn't mean he had any reason to trust her.

"Plan?"

"Yeah," her phone vibrated again, another message from Diggle**.**

**Don't tell him yet.**

"Crap on a cracker," she sighed, picking up the phone and responding before she looked up at him.

"Oliver's?" Tommy asked, his voice was angry and more than a little distainful.

"No, mine." She informed him, his eyes softening slightly before Diggle entered. 

"So, what's he know?"

"I know I'm awake and right here, so I can respond to questions asked about me," he informed him as Diggle stopped by the foot of his bed and handing a plastic bag to Felicity, before crossing his arms and glaring at him.

There was the noise of a shopping bag rustling, but it did little to deter the staring contest between the two men. After Felicity checked the bag's contents she rolled her eyes at the two men before her.

"Fine, I know there was an attempt on my life. I know I've been out for about three weeks, Oliver's MIA, no one's mentioned my father and I'm not sure if I'm relieved by that. Laurel and Thea have been around at times, there are guards and my door and I have a beard. Which may or may not have to do with some sort of plan.**"**

Diggle nodded at him, "Was that so difficult?"

Tommy muttered under his breath and reached for the glass of water as Diggle and Felicity seemed to have a silent conversation.

A resolved sigh escaped Felicity before she reached into the plastic bag and pulled out two boxes and set them beside him in his bed. He looked from them to her in confusion.

"So, have you ever had any interest in being blond or a red head?"


	3. Stubborn Men with Hero Complexes

With Felicity having redone the lair I feel like they are completely glossing over Thea running into her while Oliver was gone. She may not have noticed her every time, but come on. So this is what I feel like is a version of what should have happened after Felicity stomped out of the lair and Thea gave Roy her ultimatum.

* * *

Felicity saw him turn to her, heard him call her name but she was too angry to listen to him so she walked out. Grabbing her jacket and bag from her desk and not looking back. She made it a point to try and let bad days go, bad things happened to good people and it was the end of the night. Nearly a new day but anger radiated off her despite her best intentions. Instead of heading directly to her car she took a left and went into the kitchens, throwing her bag down and putting her coat on top.

"I'm going to murder him, or his credit score. Or maybe I'll just purchase stupid things under his name that'll embarrass him, send things to old flames to confuse him..." she mumbled to herself, opening the freezer and pulling out the mocha chip ice cream.

"Who's being murdered, and more importantly, why are you holding my ice cream?" Thea asked, having entered the kitchen in search of the same thing. Turning on her heels she faced the younger Queen, startled out of her angry tirade for a moment. Panicking, she realized that although his complete lack of awareness to Diggle aside, she didn't have to lie to Thea about the situation.

"Your brother," she informed the brunette, putting down the ice cream and getting two spoons.

"You're going to murder him or that's why you're holding the ice cream?" Thea asked, walking towards the metal table.

"Both," Felicity stated, handing her one of the spoons. Thea accepted it, opening the lid and placing it between the two of them before taking a large spoonful.

"Fair enough," she nodded not overly surprised. "Do I want to know or is it a private matter?"

Having just placed a spoonful in her mouth, she coughed at Thea's insinuation, shaking her head as she swallowed.

"No, we're not, that is we're just friends, although at the moment he's a friend, I'd love to pour a steaming hot beverage on. Or shove snow down his pants, or punch in the throat, or-"

"Whoa, okay, I get it. Angry friends," Thea said, holding out her spoon to get more ice cream.

"So, what'd he do then?" She asked, spoon hanging loosely from her mouth. Felicity looked at her, contemplating just how much to tell her when she noted her eyes were slightly pink. The kind of pink you get when you're trying not to cry.  
"He was an unthinking, unfeeling jackoff who made a decision which will likely ruin my career-at least at Queen Consolidated and didn't even bother to mention it to me until I got to work and found out myself," she explained vaguely.

'Not to mention that he's blind as a freaking bat, and blatantly ignored inviting me to dinner with mutual friends but had me set it up, because heaven forbid he become remotely competent with a computer! It's like watching a gorilla type sometimes!'

Thea looked at her with wide eyes as she stabbed the ice cream with more force than necessary.

"I said that out loud didn't I?"

Thea burst out laughing as she nodded. Felicity felt her cheeks redden slightly but was more frustrated with herself then anything.

"And you, do I want to know what the boy wonder did?"

Thea stopped mid scoop, eyes on the pint in front of them before turning to Felicity.

"Boy wonder too much?" Felicity asked, not wanting to overstep the boundaries. Not quite friends, not quite acquaintances, but filled with potential landmines. She cringed inwardly at the reminder of a few weeks ago.

"No," she finally said with a sad resignation in her voice. Felicity couldn't help but think she was too young to have to use that tone.

"It's fitting, although not a title he'd think was all that impressive," she admitted.

"More reason to use it then," Felicity smiled at her, taking another scoop and waiting for her response.

Thea nodded, a small smile playing on her lips. "I like to imagine the look on his face if he was called that, the indignation makes me feel better."

Felicity grinned, happy to see her looking even remotely happy. After all she's been caring about someone with a hero complex was the last thing she needed. She refused to think about how that also related to her.

"Use it as fuel, also knowing he's pretty much useless without you helps a little," Felicity explained without thinking as she took another bite, the younger Queen turning to look at her, one eyebrow raised in question. Felicity froze, spoon in mouth.

"I did mention gorilla using a keyboard, didn't I?" Thea grinned, nodding and going back to the ice cream.


End file.
